


Marshal Under The Mistletoe

by TheDarkestDandelion



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Cordyn, Crushing, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Good Ardyn Izunia, Kissing, Love Confessions, M/M, Mentioned Noctis Lucis Caelum/Gladious Amicitia, Mentioned Prompto Argentum/Ignis Scientia, Mistletoe, Nerves, Noctis Lucis Caelum is a Troll, Party, Regis Lucis Caelum is a Troll, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Uncle Ardyn Izunia, Winter Solstice, accidental pining, gala - Freeform, kissing under the mistletoe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:06:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28315746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDarkestDandelion/pseuds/TheDarkestDandelion
Summary: Ardyn is very impressed with Regis this year, for his nephew has managed to string together a perfect winter solstice ball all by himself!However what he is not impressed with is that his beloved nephew has forced him to go and talk to his long time crush, Cor Leonis, and has not so subtly stationed Cor under the mistletoe for the entire event....Yeah, Regis was a troll! But maybe a helpful one?
Relationships: Ardyn Izunia & Regis Lucis Caelum, Ardyn Izunia/Cor Leonis
Comments: 6
Kudos: 11
Collections: FFXV Secret Santa 2020





	Marshal Under The Mistletoe

**Author's Note:**

> For @Levy_Cross for the FFXVSecretSanta2020! 
> 
> Merry Christmas and I hope you enjoy the story! Always happy to write some Cordyn XD 
> 
> Please enjoy and I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

Ardyn scanned the room, taking in the beauty of this festive season. 

All the twinkling lights, the sweet swell of violins playing in the background, champagne glasses clinking, soft hues of gold lights illuminating the ballroom with such majesty and radiance. He had to hand it to Regis this year. He really had pulled it out of the bag without Ardyn's input at all. The colour coordination was on point and the sweet smell of fern trees was subtle enough not to make one gag, but strong enough to get in the festive spirit of the yearly solstice celebrations. And the food, the food looked exquisite and all of it was covered with a light dusting of sugar with candles placed just so on the tables, giving it that warm home-like feel. The guests, for a change, weren’t annoying him. Everyone seemed jolly, perfectly content with their lives and the glorious sight around them. 

The sight before the immortal royal made him smile too because maybe this breathtaking masterpiece proved once and for all that his nephew wasn’t so hopeless after all? 

Although the night was still young, there was plenty of time for Regis and/or Noctis to fuck everything up, as the pair so loved to do.

For once, it didn’t look like the King was going to meet Ardyn’s low expectations of their family. For his eldest nephew was being good - for once - and sitting down with his Shield, doing exactly what he was told; eating food, sipping at his wine and engaging in mindless conversation with anyone who walked near him.  _ Odd _ . But maybe Regis just wanted the evening to go perfect because he had done all the hard work in making the ballroom look so spectacular. Whatever it was, as long as Regis remained sensible Ardyn would be very proud. 

The problem, therefore, laid with the young prince. 

From where he was standing, Ardyn could hear a fairly tipsy Noctis teasing his retainer, the very well respected Ignis Scientia, about wanting to court his best friend Prompto. Ardyn couldn’t help but chuckle when the red glow on poor young Scientia’s face became the most predominant feature of his entire being. Although, Ardyn thought, his nephew’s words were a little hypocritical and he wanted to applaud Scientia on holding his tongue, for Noctis was just as smitten with his Shield as Ignis was smitten with this Prompto - who apparently he and Regis were never allowed to meet. 

Ardyn let go a sigh.  _ Young love....  _

Love was just as magical as this festive season. Just as beautiful. Just as captivating. However, the winter solstice was nowhere near as frightening as love and admitting one’s feelings to the other.

Nervously biting his lip, Ardyn shifted his gaze to his own - not so - secret crush. 

The stunning, handsome, jaw-dropping Marshal of the Crownsguard, Cor Leonis.

How Ardyn longed to pour his heart out to the man. Tell him how drawn he was to those amazing shimmering blue eyes, that strong jawline, those deliciously toned abs he had seen multiple times while the man in question was training the guards. Along with all those battle scars that a brave soldier such as himself had gotten from cheating death time and time again... it made Ardyn’s knees go weak. Made his heart skip a beat. Oh he was head over heels for this man and he was too damned scared to do anything about it!

“Drooling over my baby brother again, I see.” 

Ardyn managed to hide the fact he had just jumped out of his skin by gracefully turning to face his lovable nephew, who was supporting the cheekiest grin on his face. 

_ Oh dear. _ Ardyn thought to himself.  _ What on Eos was he up too now? _

“Now, Regis I wasn’t drooling. Merely looking, which I will have you know, is not a crime.” Ardyn stated casually. 

Regis chuckled. “Of course. Anyway, Cor looks rather bored. Why don’t you go and speak to him? ” 

Ardyn knew what he was doing. Regis had been trying to push him to confess his undying love for the Marshal ever since he found out about his not-so-little crush on the man. That was 2 years ago! Like Ardyn had said to the King 100 times before, he didn’t want to ruin a perfectly good friendship with the man. So no. He was not playing into Regis’s hand. 

“If I remember correctly, you were the one to put him on duty tonight. So his boredom falls upon you to sort out.” 

“Are you seriously going to pass up the opportunity to talk to Cor?”

Ardyn huffed with a pout. “Yes.” 

“Don’t be silly! Go and talk to the poor man!” Regis said encouragingly, shoving his uncle’s arm. 

“And pray tell, why can’t you do it?” 

“Because Clarus is about to come back from his toilet break in 20 seconds and I need to get my behind back over to that chair before he kicks me there.” Regis said with a nod, turning around, giving his uncle a small wave. “Have fun!”

Ardyn went to call out after him, to tell him what an annoying little earwig he was being, but instead Ardyn slowly diverted his gaze towards Cor. 

_ Huh?  _

He did look a little bored, and come to think of it... he hadn’t seen a soul go up and speak to him the entire night. Usually, Regis would spend at least 5 minutes talking to the Marshal but not even the King had bothered to converse with him. Nor had any of the Marshal’s men, who somehow always had a question for their handsome commanding officer… but no. Not a single one had… Cor was just standing there. All on his own. Probably wishing Ramuh would strike him down to be rid of his boredom… 

Ardyn had to admit he was a little bored too… 

_ Screw it!  _

Ardyn picked up his glass of wine, which had been resting on the side near him, and strolled his way over to Cor. Weaving his way through the sea of people, Ardyn’s hands began to grow sweaty. Oh, he had no idea how the mere concept of talking to Cor made him all flustered and put butterflies in his stomach. It happened all the time. 

Just the other week, Cor caught him by surprise by saying a simple hello, and Ardyn swore his face went as red as his hair! If he noticed, Cor said nothing on the matter but Ardyn really did not want that happening again… it was so embarrassing! Thinking about the incident now, he could feel his cheeks begin to flush. No he couldn’t let that happen! Thinking on his feet, he down what was left of his wine, gracefully popping the empty glass on the tray as a waiter walked by. 

That should mask his embarrassment right? 

Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to second guess his decision, as he was now standing a few feet away from his crush. 

In order to cover up the shakiness in his voice, he slightly serenaded to the man as a greeting. “Hello, Cor the Immortal!” 

Ardyn shuddered as Cor narrowed those beautiful ice blue eyes at him. Was it even legal for him to have such captivating eyes? 

“Ardyn the Adagium.” Cor replied flatly. “Don’t take another step closer.” 

“Why ever not?!” Ardyn laughed loudly, hoping it would hide the sea of lust that just took over his brain after being given such a cold order. 

Cor pointed up and Ardyn looked up to the ceiling and finally realised why no one had been near Cor all night. He was standing directly under the mistletoe. 

“Regis told me I am not allowed to move.” Cor stated, Ardyn could hear a slither of venom in his voice. “Bastard did this to me on purpose.” 

Ardyn had to prevent his jaw from hitting the floor. Because that meant that ‘bastard’ better known to the world as King Regis Lucis Caelum had tried to set them up! And failed at it miserably! How that man still had a semi-functioning kingdom Ardyn did not know! 

“He has about another 4 hours before my shift ends, by that time, he had better learn how to run again. And fast.” 

“Threatening the King, Marshal!” Ardyn gasped, placing his hand on his heart dramatically. Trying his absolute best to fight his instincts to simply step forward. He’d probably get punched if he did that. “Oh well, can’t have you being lonely because my nephew is being his normal dumb self. Looks like we will have a distance chat instead.” 

Cor looked him up and down with a smirk. “Who says I want to chat to you?”

“No one.” Ardyn replied, his heart had not just broken into little shards at all. “I simply suggest that two bored simpletons such as ourselves should try and make conversation. But if you wish me to take my leave, I will do so.” 

“It was a joke.” Cor sniggered. 

“Right.” Ardyn nodded back. 

If he was in his right frame of mind he would have picked up on that fact… but he didn’t. This was so embarrassing! 

“I would be more than welcome to help you in a plot against Regis.” Ardyn shrugged. 

“Really? Would you?” 

“Of course! I need to get him back for taking my favourite piece of literature and using it as target practice with Clarus.” 

Cor snorted. “And when did he do that?” 

“20 years ago.” 

“You are so petty.” Cor shook his head, leaning against the table, giving Ardyn a small smile. 

“That I am Marshal Leonis. That I am.” Ardyn agreed, returning the smile. A warm feeling started to grow in the man’s chest, he felt truly honoured that Cor would express his emotions around him. Cor never did that with anyone he didn’t trust after all. “So… what do you have in mind? Shall we steal his cane so he can’t get out of bed?!” 

“He wouldn’t see that as a punishment.” Cor pointed. “Clarus would though, he'd have to do everything.” 

“I do not want to get on his bad side.” 

“Neither do I right now.”

“Ummm….” Ardyn pondered for a moment before clapping his hands together making Cor jump at the sudden sound. “I know! We could change the royal food rota. Swap all his food with plant based substances and then we sit back and watch, waiting to see if he can tell the difference or not.” 

“Ardyn Lucis Caelum that is evil and I love it!” Cor grinned fully on board with the idea. “Heck, Clarus would be willing to join this scheme as well!”

“It will be the best prank of the century that is for sure.” Ardyn smiled, internally hating Clarus Amicitia. He wanted this to be a him and Cor thing… no matter. It wasn’t like Cor felt the same way he did about him… 

For the next hour or so the pair stood still, laughing at each other and discussing the ups and downs of having to deal with the royal family. They loved Regis and Noctis dearly, they were just a nuisance at the best of times. But that was not the highlight of the evening. As the pair chatted, Ardyn got a better look into who Cor the Immortal was. Even though they were friends Cor was never open with him, until tonight. The sounds of the mindless chatter and beautiful music behind him seemed to be drowned out by the man’s wonderful voice as he told him about previous missions and some of his hobbies. It was no secret that Cor had a tiny bit of a temper on him, but now Ardyn had learnt how the man coped with it, by painting. It was the last thing he had ever expected to hear out of his mouth but it made Cor appear more human. Softer if you will. Ardyn cringed into a fake laugh. He better not say that to the man's face. In return, Ardyn shared with him tales of his many deaths. Like the time he fell off a chocobo and broke his neck or the time he was stupid enough to think duelling with Mors Lucis Caelum would be a good idea. It wasn’t. The man kicked his arse. 

Cor was so easy to talk to. So funny. And this interaction certainly made Ardyn’s fondness for the man to grow more. It grew so much he didn’t know if he would be able to contain himself and end up accidentally confessing how he felt… but something kept stopping him. The thought that Cor would reject him… that would be too painful to bear. No instead, those thoughts and feelings remained buried, right? That way no one would get hurt and their friendship could remain intact. 

However, what the pair failed to notice during their long and many conversations was that dancing had begun behind them. Meaning that people had started to make a circle around the dancefloor, forcing Ardyn closer and closer towards the Marshal. They would have continued to be blissfully unaware of how close they had gotten until Ardyn felt someone push him in the Marshal’s direction.

Gasping, Ardyn quickly held out his hands and prevented himself from falling completely into Cor by grabbing on to the table, his arms either side of the man. Ardyn’s eyes went wide as he felt Cor tightly hold his forearms, where he must have gone to grab him to prevent them both from tumbling to the floor.

“Woah! Are you okay?” Cor asked, trying to steady him. 

Ardyn felt his face heat up when he locked his golden eyes with those blue ones and nervously started stuttering and fumbling around to give Cor his space back. “Cor I am so sorry! I didn’t mean to! Are you alright?” 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Cor smiled back, Ardyn noticed that not once did Cor break from their gaze. “No harm done. Could have been worse.”

“Yeah... “ Ardyn whispered, breaking eye contact briefly to look at those delicious lips… “Sorry again!”

“Honesty, it’s-” 

“Oops! Sorry, uncle Ardyn! My bad!” 

At the sound of Noct’s laughter, Ardyn spun around to see his nephew running away directly over to where Regis was sitting in his chair. Ardyn growled, he was about to raise his fist in the air and shout across the hall at Noct-

_ DAMN IT REGIS!!!  _

_ He must have fucking paid Noctis to do that because that now meant… _

Ardyn slowly looked up and noticed that he was standing directly under the mistletoe. 

Mouth going dry, Ardyn tried to gulp as he looked back towards Cor, who was staring up at the plant above them. 

_ Fuck…. _

Ardyn tried to speak and explain that they didn’t have to take part in this tradition. Because it was stupid and meaningless and no one would hold it against them if they didn’t, but he didn’t get a chance to say any of that. Instead, he felt a hand hold on to his arm and then he was met with that glorious sight of blue again. 

Cor shrugged. “Well, it is a tradition.”

Ardyn blinked. He was at a complete loss for words as Cor slowly grabbed on to the front of his heavy coat and slowly pulled him in closer. Subconsciously, Ardyn held onto the bottom of the Marshal’s jacket and did the same, so that their lips were mere inches away from each other. 

_ This was not happening! I am dreaming! I have to be dreaming!  _

He wasn’t. 

When he felt the warmth of the Marshal’s lips on him Ardyn's entire body shook. It felt like a bolt of lightning had shot up his spine and touched all his nerve endings until they reached his lips. That was when he kissed back. Slowly and softly, feeling the man’s nose brush against his face as his legs turned to jelly at finally living out his dream he had had every night for the past 2 years!

He was kissing Cor the fucking Immortal! 

After two blissful seconds, he felt Cor pull away from him. Eyes still open he saw the look of contentment on Cor’s face.

_ Wait! Did that mean….  _

“That was… ummm… nice.” Cor said awkwardly, letting go of his coat so they could step away from each other, but Ardyn’s fingers remained locked on to Cor’s jacket and he didn’t want to let go. Cor soon noticed and gave him an unreadable look. 

Ardyn bit his lip, gently tapping his foot against the floor trying to build up the courage to ask what he was longing for. “I thought so too… do you want to do it again?” 

Ardyn thought he was going to be mocked for asking such a thing but when he looked at Cor’s features, they had changed from unreadable, into a lustful smirk. 

“Yeah.” Cor nodded, aggressively grabbing the top of his coat again. “I do.” 


End file.
